Advisors’ Favorite ETFs of 2025

If this year made anything clear, it’s that advisors are crazy about ETFs.

ETFs have become a staple in advisors’ portfolios, so it’s worth taking a look at what performed especially well this year and what next year might bring. AI strategies and crypto stood out, as well as defense tech and fixed-income products. All in all, there were 168 ETFs with more than 90% growth this year in terms of advisor adoption, according to AdvizorPro data specifically compiled for ETF Upside. The research highlighted the appeal of ETFs’ tax efficiency, but also that issuers still have plenty of work to do to hold advisors’ attention.

“While [advisors] overall are comfortable with ETFs, an ETF issuer cannot just create an offering and then presume it will naturally grow an investor base,” said Hesom Parhizkar, cofounder of AdvizorPro.

Cream of the ETF Crop

Two of the top five ETFs in terms of RIA adoption this year track artificial intelligence and crypto, specifically Ethereum. Funds focused on fixed income and high-income opportunities outperformed as well, Parhizkar said. “When you reflect on that, given that AI has only recently permeated people’s everyday consciousness and similarly with crypto, that says a lot about investors’ desire to be engaged in these areas and the market’s adoption of these investments,” Parhizkar said. A defense ETF in the top five also shows that this was a key part of strategies this year, as conflicts roiled in Europe and the Middle East.

Performance among the top five strategies, however, was mixed as of the early market close on Dec. 30:

• The iShares AI Innovation and Tech Active ETF (BAI) ended the year up 23%.
• The Global X Defense Tech ETF (SHLD) increased 75% this year.
• The iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) lost 15%.
• The NEOS Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (QQQI) finished the year up 4%.
• The BondBloxx Bloomberg 10 Yr Tgt Duration US Trsy ETF (XTEN) returned 3%.

Other products that topped advisors’ wish list included Fundstrat’s Granny Shots ETF (GRNY), which uses research to pick stocks themes that the company has identified as market drivers; VanEck’s Uranium and Nuclear ET (NLR), which tracks nuclear energy companies; and Defiance’s Quantum ETF (QTUM), which follows quantum computing stocks.

Not So Fast. Still, there were 325 ETFs that did not see any increased adoption from the fourth quarter of 2024 through the third quarter of 2025, according to Parhizkar. That’s about 8% of the 4,000 ETFs AdvizorPro tracks. “Targeted and effective marketing to asset managers and firms is still very much required to ensure ETFs don’t fall to the bottom of the list,” Parhizkar said. “Four percent of ETFs saw 90% [or more] growth in adoption compared to double that literally seeing no increase in adoption whatsoever — that’s also quite telling.”